World Cup 2026: Who will win the Golden Glove?

Winning the Golden Glove is an altogether different challenge to the Golden Boot. While strikers need goals, a goalkeeper needs games — and crucially, they need their team to keep winning them. The most reliable route to the award is to be the last line of defence for a side that goes all the way to the final, which is why, of the five Golden Gloves awarded since 2010, four have gone to the goalkeeper of the tournament's winning nation.

Clean sheets matter, but they are not the be-all and end-all. FIFA's technical panel assess overall performance, meaning a keeper who makes a string of stunning saves in a tightly contested tournament can edge out a rival who barely had to break sweat behind a dominant defence. Thibaut Courtois in 2018 is the perfect example: Belgium were eliminated in the semi-finals, yet his heroics throughout the tournament were impossible to ignore.

One further factor worth considering is penalty shootouts. As the knockout rounds progress, shootouts become an increasingly likely scenario, and a goalkeeper who can save one or two spot kicks can transform both their team's campaign and their own candidacy for the award overnight.

Emiliano Martínez proved this definitively in 2022. With all of this in mind, let's take a look at who the serious Golden Glove challengers are for the 2026 World Cup.

Emiliano Martínez

The reigning Golden Glove holder is the obvious place to start. Martínez was Argentina's undisputed hero in Qatar, starting all seven matches, keeping three clean sheets, and producing those unforgettable penalty saves against the Netherlands and France in the shootouts. He followed it up by winning the Golden Glove at the 2024 Copa América too, conceding just one goal across the entire tournament. It is a level of big-game consistency that is hard to argue with.

His preparation for this tournament has not been without drama, however. He reportedly played the entirety of Aston Villa's Europa League final against Freiburg with a broken finger sustained in the warm-up, which raises understandable questions heading into a seven-game tournament. How that injury affects him in the early group stage games against Austria and Algeria could be decisive.

Argentina's group is not straightforward either. As discussed in our Golden Boot preview, Austria and Algeria are both sides in strong form who could make life difficult for Martínez rather than allowing him to coast through the group stage. That said, his mentality in high-pressure moments is arguably unmatched in world football right now, and as defending champions, Argentina have every reason to believe they can go deep again.

Alisson Becker

Brazil's number one enters this tournament as arguably the world's most accomplished goalkeeper in purely technical terms. Alisson's reading of the game is exceptional — he rarely needs to make spectacular, last-ditch saves because he is almost always in the right position before the shot is even struck. Heading into the tournament, he has kept 44 clean sheets in 77 caps for Brazil, a remarkable record that underlines just how settled and reliable he has been for the Seleção over the years.

Brazil are one of the tournament favourites and, should they go deep as expected, Alisson will accumulate the games and clean sheets that make a Golden Glove campaign. However, there is one complication worth noting. In Brazil's final friendly before the tournament, a 6-2 win over Panama, both Alisson and his Manchester City rival Ederson played 45 minutes each, with Carlo Ancelotti yet to formally confirm his number one. If there is any doubt about who starts, it creates uncertainty around Alisson's candidacy — though most analysts fully expect him to get the nod.

If Alisson does start and Brazil perform as expected, he is perhaps the most complete package in the competition: elite shot-stopper, superb distributor, and an experienced leader at the back of one of the deepest squads in the world.

Mike Maignan

This will be Maignan's first World Cup. He missed Qatar in 2022 through injury and was not in the 2018 squad, making this a long-awaited opportunity for the AC Milan goalkeeper to prove himself on the biggest stage. For those who have followed his club and international career closely, the wait feels well overdue — Maignan is an outstanding goalkeeper who perhaps does not receive the global recognition his performances deserve.

He arrived at this tournament with serious momentum. At Euro 2024, Maignan won the Golden Glove for the entire competition, recording four clean sheets and making 16 saves across six matches, even as France were eliminated by Spain in the semi-final. His performances were arguably the single brightest spot in an otherwise stuttering French campaign.

France are considered genuine World Cup contenders with a formidable defence in front of him, built around the likes of William Saliba and Ibrahima Konate. If France can channel their undeniable talent into consistent team performances, Maignan could accumulate the clean sheets needed to seriously challenge for the award. His only concern is whether a French squad that sometimes struggles for cohesion will give him the clean platform his abilities deserve.

Thibaut Courtois

Courtois is the only goalkeeper in this group to have previously won the Golden Glove, claiming it in 2018 when Belgium reached the semi-finals. If he were to win it again, he would become the first goalkeeper in history to take the award twice, which is a motivation that surely burns within him.

His return to the Belgian setup after missing Euro 2024 following a falling-out with then-manager Domenico Tedesco has been well documented, and Belgium are unquestionably a better side with him between the posts. At 6'7", Courtois's physical presence alone eliminates the threat of crosses and aerial balls that other goalkeepers must work far harder to deal with, and his shot-stopping at Real Madrid has remained at the elite level over the past few seasons.

The concern for Courtois, as it has always been with this Belgian generation, is whether the team around him can actually go deep enough in the tournament. This group, sometimes called the golden generation, is ageing. Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and others are all in the later stages of their international careers. If Belgium peak at the right time and Courtois delivers the kind of match-winning performances he produced against Brazil in 2018, he could absolutely be in the conversation — but a deep run is not guaranteed.

Jordan Pickford

Pickford's position as England's undisputed number one, which was far from certain for much of his early international career, is now completely settled. The Everton goalkeeper has matured into a reliable and focused presence in goal for the Three Lions and will go into this tournament as one of the more experienced keepers in the competition.

England's group, as outlined in our top scorer preview, contains Croatia alongside Ghana and Panama, meaning Pickford should have the chance to find his feet in the competition before potentially facing tougher opposition in the knockouts. England under their current setup are a team that can be defensively disciplined when they need to be, which could help Pickford keep clean sheets and build his case.

The honest caveat with Pickford is that winning the Golden Glove from England's position would likely require a significant tournament run, perhaps difficult as this is Tuchel's first major tournament in charge of the team. Pickford is more than good enough to win the award on his merits, but he would need the team's performances to align with his own. If England do go deep, do not rule him out.

Honourable mentions

Whilst these are my personal best candidates for the 2026 World Cup Golden Glove, there are other names worth keeping an eye on. Spain's Unai Simón made 100 saves in La Liga this past season and is another keeper in excellent form, while Portugal's Diogo Costa is quietly considered a sleeper pick by many given his penalty-saving ability and Portugal's defensive strength. Ultimately, the goalkeeper who lifts this award will have been at the heart of their nation's campaign from first whistle to last — whoever that turns out to be, they will have earned it.